Unofficial visit for Irvington contingent results in Rutgers offer

Shawn Brown

Recruiting Analyst

A Monday visit to Rutgers by a group of Irvington High School players resulted in an offer for class of 2019 wide receiver Mohamed Toure, who was joined by a host of teammates for an afternoon in Piscataway.

Irvington head coach Ashley “Smoke” Pierre talked about the visit, the offer and more with Scarlet Nation.

“We set the tone by visiting at home first. We wanted that to be the first spot and have that to be the first school to see us. It is in our backyard. We are Jersey guys so I wanted to have our guys see the place.”

Toure is a 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior who transferred to Irvington from Paramus Catholic.

“He has been with us since November,” Pierre said of Toure. “I think he is the best receiver in the state of New Jersey. That is not because he is on my team, I really believe that. A lot of people around the state know that and lot of players in the Big North know that as well. He has just been taking it all in and has just been grinding. He had three scholarship offers prior to walking into Rutgers yesterday. Coach [Chris] Ash had nothing but great things to say about him and he kind of earned his offer.”

Pierre talked a bit more about Toure, who also holds offers from Cincinnati, Central Michigan and Howard.

“Mohamed is a mature kid. I think he is a great kid, I knew his family real well. Mohamed is going to be a leader for us and push us in the direction we need to go. I think highly of the kid and I don’t put my stamp on just any kid. He has done nothing but great things for us. We have those deep conversations about life and he is going to do really well.”

Also joining Toure was offensive lineman Saivon Herring, who is a junior that recently transferred from Hudson Catholic.

“They spoke very highly of him,” Pierre said of Herring. “He spent a lot of time with the offensive line coach [AJ Blazek]. We are just developing him. He has been with us for a couple of months now. He will gain a whole lot of interest.”

The other players on hand for the visit were Irvington juniors Darren Fields, Elton Jean Baptist and Abraham Kamara.

Following the visit, Pierre also spoke about the job Ash is doing, particularly when it comes to recruiting the local area.

“I think he is going in the right direction. He knows we have talent at Irvington and I think everyone in the country is starting to know that. He is at the point where he has to get some Irvington kids. There is an open door policy for him at Irvington whenever he wants to come through and we feel the same way at Rutgers.”